"That is soon told. Old Martha nursed me back to health again, and
our stern father hindered her not in her tendance of me. And this
very night we made our plans, and she put a concoction of herbs
into his nightly potion, which caused him to sleep too sound to
awake for any sound within or without the house. Then we softly
stole away without let or hindrance--she to go to the Chase, I to
walk across the moorland and forest as thou hadst bidden me, to
find thee here."

"And thou didst arm thyself ere thou wentest forth?"

She looked up with strange earnestness into his face.

"I know not if the thought were sin, Cuthbert," she said, "but as I
slipped through the dark house ere our flight, my eyes fell upon
that pair of heavy pistols always loaded that our father keeps ever
on the mantle shelf of the hall. I thought of the lessons thou
hadst given me in old days, and knew I could pull the trigger were
I so minded, and send the bullet whizzing through the air. I had no
thought of harming any man as I put forth my hand and took one of
the weapons. I was thinking rather of myself. I had heard men speak
of perils worse than death that may beset weak and helpless women
alone in the world. I knew not if I might find thee as I hoped. I
could not but fear that some mischance might keep us sundered. I
thought of my father's cruel wrath should he discover my flight,
and pursue and overtake. It seemed to me, standing in the darkness
of the old Gate House, that it would be better to perish than to be
dragged thither again to die of misery and harsh captivity. I said
within myself, 'Sure, if it be sin, it is one that God would
pardon. It is not well for me to go forth without some weapon which